Friday, February 04, 2022

THE PERILS OF ZERO

by Bob Walsh

Senator Ray Lujan, age 49, (D-N.M.) suffered a stroke yesterday and will be out of action for 4-6 weeks.  Since in the senate you have to have your butt IN THE SEAT in order to vote that could put a kink in things.  

In days long gone by when there was a little bit of friendly feelings in the Senate once in a while, when a senator on one side of the issue was sidelined to a legit medical condition, a senator from the other side would refuse to vote on an issue just to maintain the balance.  Since the senate is so highly polarized now and has gone very tribal I don't see that likely to happen any time soon.

He is likely to be back on the job by the time the SCOTUS vote comes around and Build Back Better is now dead and stinking so the chances of this being a big deal is not that huge.  Never the less in a body where the average age is around 70 these things can happen from time to time.  Having zero wiggle room on an important vote is an unforgiving situation. 

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